Chilean carrier and Oneworld alliance member LAN will maintain the pace of investment into fleet growth and renewal despite the current crisis, maintaining its commitment to invest $1.37 billion between 2009 and 2011 in new aircraft.
Speaking during at a shareholder's meeting in Santiago de Chile on 17 April, LAN's vice president investor relations, Alejandro de la Fuente, said that LAN plans to take six aircraft this year, "representing an investment of $274 million, about a third of its 2008 investment.
"In 2011 our fleet will have reached 113 aircraft", de la Fuente says, indicating that crisis-related fleet planning flexibility will not be obtained from cancelling orders "but from renewing, or not renewing expiring lease contracts". LAN has three aircraft leases expiring each year from 2009 to 2011 which can be either extended or ended without penalties.
A local financial analyst familiar with LAN says: "LAN sticks to its pre-crisis aircraft orders. The news here is not a new investment of $1.4 billion, but that the budget remains intact. They are doing a brilliant job and made a profit of $336 million in 2008."
LAN reported a net profit of $308 million for 2007, meaning that it managed to improve its 2008 results by nearly 9%.
During the shareholders' assembly, LAN's chairman Jorge Awad noted that LAN is not immune to the worldwide crisis, adding that passenger traffic in the first quarter is down around 10%, while cargo traffic has been hit with a 20% decrease. But decreasing fuel costs and easing capital costs on older fleet purchases makes him optimistic that "2009 will be another year with important results for LAN".
Source: Air Transport Intelligence news
